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Legion has been an interesting expansion for me for many reasons, but one of the more subtle, yet intriguing ones has been my shifting attitude towards cooldowns.

Prior to this expansion, I hated cooldowns. In the context of tanking or even just raiding generally, they were okay, but mainly because there was a clear time to use them. About to take a huge hit? Use the tank cooldown. Did someone pop Heroism? Use all the DPS cooldowns.

Outside of raids… when were you supposed to use, say, Avenging Wrath? On the first mob you see? Only when you’ve grouped up several mobs? Only for elites or rare mobs? It shouldn’t actually matter, as WoW’s open world questing is pretty trivial, but it only took getting burned once or twice over the years before I got gun-shy. Plus, on a PvP server, you might actually need those cooldowns to escape a gank. The end result of was years of not using many (if any) cooldowns on any toons.

…except one, actually. I had zero issues popping cooldowns on my rogue, from character creation on. I don’t know if it was because the rogue has so many cooldowns anyway, or if stealth fundamentally changes the cadence of encounters, or what.

Legion, despite gutting streamlining class fantasies, feels like it has more cooldowns. The most important is the Flightmaster’s Whistle, which has a 5 minute cooldown. I have trouble actually pressing 2 minute cooldowns, much less 5 minute ones, so I was quite annoyed at first. But now? Completely fine, obviously. The Skyhorn Kite got a cooldown nerf to 15 minutes – with a 3 minute shared cooldown with Goblin Gliders – but I use them any time it might shave off more than about 10 seconds of running around.

I am, at this point, pretty much completely cured of my cooldown anxiety.

The intriguing question is “why?” While the more straight-forward answer might be simply because I started to have to use them more, I think it might be more because the expected encounter/play-session length has shortened or at least fragmented. The interplay between World Quests and the Flightmaster Whistle ensures that which ones I complete are the ones that can be done in about 5 minutes; I actually skip the ones that can be completed in less than 5 minutes, as I’d be twiddling my thumbs waiting for the cooldown anyway. Given that I’m already spending 5 minutes (or more, depending on the time it takes for the Flight Path to complete) inbetween action, all of my cooldowns will be available at each stop. So… why not use them?

The good news is that I have noticed this “lesson” bleeding over into other games. I loaded up GW2 yesterday (a topic for another post), and while short cooldowns are rather integral to basic DPS already, I noticed myself pressing the longer 1.5 minute ones even when fighting basic enemies. And why not, right? It might only save you ~10 seconds or so questing, but not only does that time add up, it’s the equivalent of adding ~10 seconds to mob grinding each time the cooldown would have refreshed without you using it. So yeah, brain, there is an opportunity cost to pressing the button when you might have needed it later, but there is an equal opportunity cost for not pressing it.

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As an aside, my WoW subscription has technically expired despite having 10 WoW Tokens (the maximum) – I figure there isn’t much of a point of playing more until patch 7.1.5. Yeah, I would be missing on selling Felwort and some lucrative WQs, but would I make ~58k gold in 30 days? Probably not. I might go ahead and spend one if I get in a mood, but we’ll see if GW2 and other games assuage the withdraw.

It has been quite some time since I’ve had to bother with the issue of PvP servers, but Shintar’s latest experience with a “classic WoW” server really sums up my thinking after the years:

The truth is, I’ve never had the urge to initiate combat with the opposite faction, so if I’m being honest I’m just making myself a punching bag for other players by going along with it. All that ever happens is that I get attacked by people who are several levels above me, in twink gear, or in a group. Sometimes things get turned around and they are the ones who end up with egg on their face, but that’s a cold comfort when compared to the amount of my time that ends up getting wasted by corpse-running and having to re-do quests. I’ve put up with it because there were no other options at the time, but weekends like these really make me wonder whether it’s worth it when I could be having fun with something else where other players aren’t able to ruin my enjoyment every step of the way. My free time is really too precious to me these days to waste it on nonsense like that.

Is there excitement on PvP servers? Sure. Although I would more describe that as anxiety, considering I’ve only ever gone on ganking sprees after being ganked myself. So, really, that would be what I say to anyone asking if they should pick a PvP server: “Do you want to spend your time ganking mostly helpless players over and over? If not, then don’t go to a PvP server.” Those rare moment of cooperation and peaceful coexistence do not make up for the time you spend getting killed in the middle of a quest. They really, really don’t.

I have not been playing Wildstar for months, but I try and keep abreast of its various developments. The most recent was a disabling of the free realm transfers ahead of the incoming megaserver merge. It was later clarified on Reddit that the free realm transfers would be coming back once everything is stabilized… but only for PvP –> PvE transfers. Some player, clearly new to the MMO scene [Edit: or used to WoW] , asked the bright-eyed question of “Why?” InRustTrust helpfully explained the hitherto ironclad logic:

The restriction is, and always has been, purely because the people on PvP servers don’t want you to just level up your character in complete peace, obtain all the gear they competed over and free of the ganking they had to endure, and merely transfer past all that. I don’t know why this is ever shocking to anyone. It’s like this in practically every MMO and the reason is always the same.

I say “hitherto” because A) I like fancy words, and B) does that explanation strike anyone else as increasingly asinine?

It is certainly true that such a rule strikes a chord of fairness. But what are we really saying here? What are the developers committing to? There are precisely two megaservers in North America, with a one-way funnel between them; any server transfer is basically a permanent loss for the PvP megaserver. So anyone who originally joined their friends on a PvE server only to lose them, now has to sate their frustrated bloodthirst in battleground queues. Or anyone who wasn’t sure whether they could stand it, or anyone who didn’t originally know the difference, or anyone looking for a change in scenery, or for any number of reasons. Including, I’m sure, X amount who wanted to level in peace but are itching to gank lowbies.

Would it be unfair? I ask… who cares?

No, seriously, just think about it. Are we really regarding leveling up on a PvP server as some kind of rite of passage? That you cannot gank lowbies unless you yourself were a lowbie to be ganked? It spawns all sorts of interesting questions. For example, I leveled up on the PvP no-pop server of Auchindoun in WoW. There were a few ganks along the way, sure, but my experience had to be night-and-day different from someone who leveled up on a High-pop PvP server. Am I “worthy” of the same “respect” as those who had it worse?

I mean, principles are great and all, and I recommend everyone having a few. But on occasion I also recommend examining them and seeing if they are still relevant to your interests. Having a PvE –> PvP server restriction is 100% arbitrary and I can’t see what real benefit it brings, especially when PvP servers are historically the most empty to begin with. Can Wildstar really afford to turn away geared endgame players from possibly generating endgame shenanigans on PvP servers? “It’s not fair!” So add an achievement: Leveled On A PvP Server [+10].

It’s a PvP server, people, everyone should be falling over themselves getting more (carebear) targets to transfer. Right? The sanctity of the hazing ritual that is leveling on these servers is not sacrosanct. The PvP person who would quit over this clearly was not interested in a world PvP endgame. The only people you have to watch out for would be the lowbies who might see an increase in getting ganked… but then again that is precisely what they signed up for in the first place. Arguably those masochists would like it even more.

So come on, Carbine, be the first (?) next to put this sacred cow out to pasture.

I have established a pretty stable routine based on daily profession cooldowns, which is a good sign to anyone that wishes me to continue logging in everyday. Scribe, Tailor, and then JC/Alchemy. I mentioned before that the AH on Auchindoun-US is pretty garbage, and things have not especially improved since that first impression. Instead, I have adapted. Glyphs, for example, were a market I avoided previously because the value for my time just was not there with the botting and the undercut wars. Now? The competition is basically one baron with a 699g fallback that I undercut by 100-200g depending on my mood. In fact, since I’m just using Auctionator instead of a more robust addon, I simply order all glyphs by highest price and use that as my guide for production.

By the way, many virtual tears were shed when I realized how utterly useless my 50 stacks of banked Twilight Jasmine and hundreds of other Cataclysm herbs became. The two dozen stacks of Pyrite Ore got prospected into gems which turned into rings which turned into nicely priced Enchanting materials. Blackfallow Ink, though? Good for only a single glyph… and Mysterious Fortune Cards. Better than vendoring the herbs, I suppose. I hope.

Something I always find interesting is how much Blizzard changes the paradigms with each expansion. After two straight expansions of alt-friendliness, Mists is the most alt-unfriendly expansion I have ever seen. The whole Spirit of Harmony thing in particular is maddening as someone with alts of every profession. Specialized crafting components being BoP is nothing new (Frozen Orbs say hi), but what is somewhat new is how early in the process they are required for goods. Level 85 blue Blacksmithing weapons requiring 2 Spirits at skill level 545? Why?

Speaking of crafting, I don’t know how I feel about its present trajectory. Blizzard has been simplifying the process for years, of course, but my return after a 1.5-year break makes the culmination stand out. Specifically: do people really like random-stat crafted gear? Or how Ghost Iron is basically the de facto resource for all Blacksmithing? Or completely interchangeable Enchanting ingredients? Some historical aspects of crafting were becoming increasingly obtuse as the game aged – Enchanting rods come to mind – but there is something to be said about requiring more than two moving parts and/or working towards a specific item. Hell, I was immensely relieved when I saw the level 90 crafted JC rings/necklaces were specific things with concrete stats.

Anyway, my immediate goal is to get the paladin to 90 so that I can unlock the farm. While that sentence was a bit depressing to type, it is more painful to me knowing that while I make it a point to log in daily for the profession cooldowns, I am continuously missing all the easy Spirits of Harmony (etc) that I could be gaining while I putz around looking for a new main. I have not tanked on the paladin yet – part of me rebels against the necessity of memorizing yet more mob/boss abilities – but I am definitely not a real fan of the Retribution rotation/kit anymore. At least compared to how fun/fast I was mowing down mobs as the warrior anyway.

Although… well, I did have a bit of a giggle Bubble-Hearthing away from two separate gank attempts. Just like old (TBC) times.